Actors with disabilities face a daunting task: getting the entertainment industry to truly reflect diversity by including them in the stories they tell on the big (and little) screen. When a person with a disability is written into a script, questions abound, fear of network and advertiser refusal surfaces. The perception that an actor with a disability is going to lead to increased cost and time often wins out.
Advocating for Actors with Disabilities
But, for more than 25 years, California’s Media Access Office has worked to change the climate of the Hollywood industry. The office helps secure jobs for people with disabilities and influence decision-makers to give actors with disabilities the chance to perform in mainstream roles, not just those for which a disability itself is written into the character’s part in the plot.
The office accomplishes its goal of ensuring that people with disabilities are portrayed accurately by the media and promoting employment opportunities for performers with disabilities via a series of free services and programs, including:
• Acting as liaison for casting directors looking for actors with disabilities. This includes submitting head shots and resumes, and offering advice on accessibility and special services.
• Individual career development, including reviewing and setting career goals and objectives, industry referrals, acting workshops, business of the business classes, low-cost head shot sessions, resume clinics, and young performer and parent seminars.
• Educating talent agents on how best to represent their clients with disabilities.
• Answering questions relating to disability issues, current trends and political correctness, period piece information, and questions pertaining to the Americans with Disabilities Act.
• Providing technical assistance and participating in public speaking engagements with both industry professionals and the disability community.
The office is a partnership between staff and volunteers of the California Employment Development Department and the Governor's Committee for Employment for Disabled Persons. Government interest in these opportunities makes sense. Entertainment is big industry in California. Jobs are at stake. As more actors with disabilities hit the media airwaves, more opportunities for others are created.
Hollywood is a complex industry, one with an enormous effect on public attitudes toward people with disabilities. Film and television tell stories based largely on life’s complexities. With the continued help of California’s Media Access Office, viewers can look forward to more real, more complete storytelling that includes the twists and surprises that are part of living with a disability.
